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Despite market movement toward crossovers and more fuel-efficient compact cars, full-size trucks like the 2012 Nissan Titan Pro-4X we recently tested continue to be a big piece of the sales pie, although Nissan‘s slice is pretty small.

Hopes were high when Nissan introduced the Titan for the 2004 model year. Its chiseled, edgy styling made a bold statement, and its 5.6-liter V-8 and five-speed automatic transmission were among the class leaders at the time. But since the Titan’s introduction, the full-size truck landscape has changed considerably. The competitive set has either undergone substantial makeovers or all-new models have been rolled out. By contrast, today’s Titan is largely the same model that debuted eight years ago, with a few minor changes along the way. The introduction of a long-wheelbase model in 2008 was the biggest update.

Climbing into our 2012 Titan Pro-4X tester, it was immediately familiar, down to the angular, hard plastic dashboard, and a three-spoke steering wheel that hasn’t changed much in its eight years on the market. Turn the key and you’ll hear the characteristic fan roar when the engine starts. The V-8 still makes the same throaty burble under throttle and delivers its torquey power in the low-to-mid RPM range.

We didn’t subject our tester to any heavy payloads or towing during its stay, but its 1842-pound payload and 9300-pound towing capacity should be able to handle most tasks. But in an indication of how far the half-ton market has changed in the last eight years, a similarly equipped Ford F-150 can tow nearly 2000 pounds more, and will also deliver up to 3 mpg better city and 4 mpg better highway fuel economy when not towing. That’s with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V-6 option.

The Titan’s 6.9-second 0-60 and 15.4-second quarter-mile times are competitive in today’s full-size segment. Those times put it nearly neck-and-neck with a comparably equipped Ford F-150 4×4 equipped with the new 5.0-liter 360-hp V-8. We have not yet tested an F-150 4×4 equipped with the EcoBoost, but a rear-drive model ran a 6.2-second 0-60 and a 14.8-second quarter-mile.

If you want a V-6 option in the Titan, you’re out of luck. The 317-hp, 385 lb-ft 5.6-liter Endurance V-8 is the only engine available, and a five-speed automatic is the only transmission option. This combination returns 12 mpg city and 17 mpg highway in EPA testing on the 4×4 model, with our tester averaging 14.8 miles per gallon during its visit.

Despite being a nearly decade-old design, the Titan does have some useful and clever features. Our tester was equipped with the Premium Utility Package, which includes a factory-applied spray-on bedliner and adjustable tie-down cleats mounted on rails in the bed. The Titan was the first model to offer a factory-applied bedliner, and it has since been copied by Ford and Ram, among others.

One of our staffers also inadvertently found a hidden feature of the Titan’s remote locking system. The front windows will partially or fully open if you hold down the remote’s unlock button. Unfortunately, the auto-close function must be actuated by holding the key in the door tumbler in the “lock” position. Our tester also had a vertical retracting rear window, but unlike the Toyota Tundra’s full-width vertical slider, only the middle section of the Titan’s rear window retracts.

We don’t know precisely when a new Titan will be coming, but 2014 or 2015 is a good guess, and you can bet Nissan will improve it substantially over the current model. A V-6 option is likely, as one is offered in the new NV-series commercial vans, which share a good deal of their hardware with the Titan. The recently-redesigned Infiniti QX56 SUV features a direct-injected version of the 5.6-liter V-8 which produces a substantial 400 hp and 413 lb-ft of torque, as well as improved fuel economy. There’s a good chance the next Titan will get some version of this engine, as well as a version of the QX’s seven-speed automatic.

As tested, our Pro-4X model totaled $40,975. However, at the time of this writing, a hefty $4000 rebate was available on the Titan, making the value proposition a lot more attractive. Unfortunately, compared to its much more modern, refined competitors, value is about the only truly compelling feature of this dated truck.

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2012 Nissan Titan News and Reviews

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